Auto accident: am i cooked?

You would be surprised what lawyers will come up with lol …

 

good point, i didn't notice the rocker panel. my running boards at least protected my rockers in my case...

 

Expensive, but fixable. Sorry OP.

 

30 years of experience with this stuff.

 

I'm a licensed insurance agent and adjuster, everybody be warned!!!

The latest most prevalent auto insurance claim scams are parking lot accidents. ALWAYS call the police. On private property, according to the law no one is at fault, they will just note the accident.

If the damages are bad enough and either person is going to file a claim, ALWAYS call THIER insurance company to file the claim in you can, not yours.

In any case in parking lot accidents whoever calls the insurance company first and gives them thier version of the story first wins 99% of the time!

Insurance companies will decide who pays.

Here is the scam, people are getting in minor accidents, getting your info or plate number, then telling you it's all good, no need to call the police, then showing up at the ER later that day claiming injuries. They call your insurance, or tell the hospital they were hit and give your plate number.

Without the police report you have no proof of what happened.

So your insurance will pay up.

In the last few years I have seen at least 20-30 claims like this, some with as little as $500 physical damage to the vehicle and the scammer walk away with over $100,000 claiming personal injuries.

So be aware!!!

 

Lol, last year I was at the grocery store waiting to back out of my spot. A guy across from me in a brand new King Ranch Ford started backing up and caught the very edge of my steel bumper. I barely felt it, apparently neither did he. He kept backing up with the edge of my bumper digging into the side of his bed and only stopped when his fender flares got ripped off. He jumps out screaming at me, "look at my truck!!! Who is going to pay for all of this!!!"

I just laughed and said, "I donno" I would have left it at that if he wasn't such as a-hole screaming at me for his mistake. But I had to have some fun.... I started yelling back at him... "well who is going to pay to fix that little scratch to the powder coat on my bumper!!!" Lol!

In a huff, he left.

Years ago, same thing in my jeep a guy pulled out in front of me and I demolished his car. Total loss!

It also scratched my steel bumper and broke 2 of my KC Dayliters. He jumps out screaming at me saying he was police officer, I was going to pay Blah, blah, blah... I started yelling at him, "who is going to fix me KC lights?"As much as he tried when the police showed up he couldn't spin it to make it my fault.

 

The law does not say that no one is at fault in a parking lot accident. Police cannot cite you for an accident on private property. Those are not the same thing.

 

Depends on the jurisdiction. Where I practice law enforcement, we can, and will cite infractions in parking lots that provide parking for 10 or more cars.

 

The police can not make a decision about who was at fault on private property. At least in Louisiana they can in fact issue citations on private property. The only citations (at least in Louisiana) police can issue on private property are Reckless Operation and Driving While intoxicated.

 

Your jurisdiction is doing it right, my friend. Long ago someone backed into my truck hard. Refused to provide information or even speak to me, naturally I called that town's police. I was told upon their arrival "just so you know, this isn't our job!"

 

The police basically say the same thing here if you call them to an accident scene in a parking lot. Actually they get pretty pissed off if you call them. BUT, that little report, on that little piece of paper from that pissed off a-hole (AKA a LEO! or any of our local Lafayette City Police Department Officers) can save you in court.


(no offense to timw, I am sure your department is staffed with some great folks. Our city police officers are a bunch of wanna be jerks who got picked on in highschool. They only took the $24,000 a year job so that now they have some authority and they use it to bully and threaten everyone. Now, our Parish (County) Sheriffs deputies and are Louisiana State Police officers are some stand up guys who took the job to help people)

I have not called the police since 2010. A guy stole some electronics from my shop at my house. I caught him walking out of my shop, items in hand. He laughed and said what are you going to do call the police or something? He was lucky he was coming out of the front door of my shop, because he was standing literally right between me and the door to the closest where my rifles are! He took off, I ran inside, thought about grabbing a gun and going after him, but since I knew who he was and where he lived I made the stupid mistake of calling the police instead. Detective Leblanc of the Lafayette City Police Department came by. Since he said he couldn't see my property outside of the guys house there was nothing he could do. Then he started asking me questions like I was the criminal, walked out of the house, stole a pack a cigarette off of my porch on the way out and left. I immediately went to the station and talked to his boss Detective Cormier and reported the larcenous. Detective Cormier refused to do anything. Si I called IA and filed a larceny complaint against Leblanc and a complaint against Cormier. . IA investigated it, both Leblanc and Cormier adminted that everything in my complaint was the truth. Leblanc even said he took the cigarettes. IA put thier report together and gave it the Chief Jim Craft of the Lafayette City Police Department. Craft wrote me a letter basically saying he was not going to pursue the matter. Sadly, that hat is the LEO's we deal with every day here So our neighborhood, which is basically in the middle of downtown takes care of our own problems. Criminal nor City Police are allowed in or put up with! Sheriffs Deputies and State Troopers are always welcome in our community

 

That's also not the same thing as "the law is that no one is at fault on private property." And yes, I should've specified minor traffic infractions, not DUI, reckeless op, etc.

 

In my example I forget if they wrote a report or not. My response to the officer was polite but firm

"1, he wouldn't give me his information after hitting my truck or even speak to me, I wasn't just letting him leave without it. 2, I made the mistake of not involving the police once before and got screwed. 3, with respect, this IS your job."

The other driver also tried to claim I left the scene which couldn't have been further from the truth and when it was said to me I yelled over to the other guy that he's a flat out liar. After the exchange he just left without even apologizing for hitting me. He also lied to his insurance saying I rear ended him but seeing as how the driver's fender was pushed in from that side, the headlight and grille were also knocked 2 inches over to the side that is obviously a lie. I suspected the other driver might have been an officer or knew someone powerful given all those things, or just a shitty person.

In your example, good on you. Pretty horrendous that happened to you.

 

Typically the police don't find fault in accidents, that's the insurance companies job. The police take enforcement action (tickets, warnings, summons) against the one who violated the motor vehicle law. Someone violated the law when they caused the accident (stop sign, fail to yield right of way, following too close etc.). At the end of the day, it's the insurance companies who work it out. A thorough accident report of the facts, and enforcement action by the police help the insurance make their decision.

 

Been thinking about a dash cam for a while. This thread reinforces the need for such a device.

 

It won't clearly show a side impact though

 

They're cheap enough nowadays that I strongly recommend you do it

 

True, but it can clearly show something else didn't happen. I didn't have one then, but see my example about the driver's side of my truck getting backed into. The other driver tried to claim I rear ended him, video would have shown that was not true

 

Nope, but it should show how things progressed until the event. In the OP's case, it might have shown the other car on the path of collision.

 

Yup, I have the Garmin Mini 2, and you wouldn't even know it's there.